Chapter 174 – How Dare You Steal My Lines?

It was only after You Long spoke that Lu Yuan suddenly became conscious of it.

The three killer moves of the Crane Style—[Crane Shadow Float], [Mistaken Plucking of Immortal Orchid], and [Ethereal Penglai]—were indeed all offensive moves. Not a single move was designed for defense.

This was quite unusual.

Because a martial arts style, after being passed down for hundreds of years and perfected by countless disciples, should have reached a relatively mature state.

A balanced offense and defense.

That is the most basic requirement.

Even in You Long’s Dragon Sect Legacy, there was at least one move—[Dragon Shield]—that could be used for dodging and defense.

But the Crane Style Legacy had none.

It wasn’t that they were missing such moves; they simply never had them.

Similar defensive moves should be in the Snake Sect’s Legacy.

“Is it that the Crane Style Legacy isn’t considered top-tier, and only by combining it with the Snake Sect, forming a complete Sky Water Stream, can it be on the same level as the Dragon Sect’s top-tier Legacy?”

Lu Yuan looked at his [Martial Artist] panel.

After successfully comprehending the true essence of the Crane Style, a new skill, lv1 [True Essence of Spirit Crane], appeared on the panel.

To be honest, he didn’t feel that the True Essence of Spirit Crane was inferior to You Long’s True Essence of Dragon Form.

But since You Long said so, it proved that he… could actually be stronger!

“You can go back and ask your sect for the Snake Sect’s cultivation techniques, try to combine the two, and first make up for this flaw in your martial arts system…”

You Long said to him.

Lu Yuan shook his head. “My sect only has the Crane Style Legacy. I don’t know where to learn the Snake Sect’s martial arts.”

“Uh…”

You Long was taken aback, then frowned and said, “The Tian Shui Stream’s Snake and Crane Legacies are both in Xiabang, how could you not know where to learn?”

“I’m not from the Xiabang Tian Shui Stream, but from the Weishan Tian Shui Stream Crane Style.”

“Weishan Tian Shui Stream Crane Style…”

You Long’s eyes flickered for a moment, then he quickly understood.

“I see. Your branch is the old Crane Style that was expelled after losing the Snake-Crane Conflict.

Now, the Tian Shui Stream’s Snake and Crane have long been unified. Although they are divided into two factions internally, they are collectively referred to as the Tian Shui Stream to outsiders…”

“I see.”

Lu Yuan’s expression remained calm, but an inexplicable feeling rose within him.

He had always prided himself on being a descendant of the Sky Water Stream Crane Style, but it turned out that Old Liu’s branch had long been expelled.

The Snake Sect from back then was no longer the Snake Sect. It had become the legitimate… Xiabang Sky Water Stream!

“It seems Old Liu suffered a bitter defeat in that battle. Not only did he lose four of his limbs, but he couldn’t even hold on to the Legacy and reputation… No wonder he has such a strong obsession with unifying the martial arts world.”

Lu Yuan’s expression turned complex, feeling a bit disheartened.

Old Liu had always treated him well, saving the best things for him.

Compared to him, the other direct disciples of the Crane Style were like stepchildren.

“I’ll have to visit the Xiabang Sky Water Stream someday…”

“To reclaim Old Liu’s honor. At the very least, I need to vent his grievances.”

Lu Yuan silently made up his mind.

“…You’re not from the legitimate Sky Water Stream.”

You Long pondered, “Then after you officially join Yellow Bear, you can check out Yellow Bear’s Pure Martial Library.

You must have earned a lot of points from this new blood assessment, which should translate into a significant amount of merit.

If the Sky Water Stream Snake Sect Legacy is in Yellow Bear’s Pure Martial Library… you should have enough to exchange for it.”

“Yes.”

Lu Yuan chatted with You Long for a while longer before getting up to take his leave.

On his way out of the White Dragon Martial Arts Gym, Lu Yuan pulled up his professional panel.

After the battle with You Long, his [Martial Artist] professional experience had increased by over three thousand points.

It was about the same amount of experience points he had gained from his previous fight with Karofis of the Crow Deity Sect.

This battle had been quite rewarding.

Not only did he successfully comprehend True Essence, but he also “stole” a killer move from the Dragon sect—[Dragon Shield].

In the future, there might be other powerful killer moves like [Dragon Moves Through Clouds], [Dragon Rainfall], and [Dragon Tail Sweep].

In terms of martial artist skills, Lu Yuan’s arsenal for facing opponents would become significantly more diverse.

“If I can also comprehend the True Intent of Dragon sect Martial Arts, what will my True Intent become? Will it be a fusion? Or will it exist independently?”

Lu Yuan pondered as he walked to the entrance of the White Dragon Martial Arts Gym. He casually hailed a driverless taxi and input the destination of his next level S task point.

Sitting comfortably in the taxi’s plush seat, Lu Yuan gazed at the ever-changing skyline outside the window, his expression serene and his demeanor calm.

In truth, Lu Yuan didn’t feel that the Sky Water Stream Snake Sect Legacy was as crucial as You Long made it out to be.

The True Intent of the Spirit Crane might be flawed on its own.

However… as long as the True Intent is strong enough, these flaws can be entirely mitigated.

For him, enhancing his True Intent was much simpler than for the average martial artist.

He could directly allocate skill points to True Intent skills or attribute points to boost his intelligence.

If the strength of his True Intent was ten times, or even twenty to thirty times that of others… would those flaws still be considered flaws?

An elephant, even if riddled with flaws, is still far beyond the capability of an ant to bring down.

“Moreover, I have pure physical strength on my side. Even if my True Intent isn’t strong enough, as long as my fists are hard and my strength is great… one punch, and I could shatter a Grandmaster. Who cares about True Intent at that point?”

Before long, Lu Yuan arrived at his destination.

This second level S task point was located in the outskirts of Smokeless City No. 3, inside a massive, tin-can-like structure.

Squinting at the tin-can building, Lu Yuan casually tapped on his wristwatch to bring up his task details.

He now had nearly 500,000 points in total!

The task with You Long had rewarded him with a whopping 300,000 points.

It seemed that You Long had given him the highest possible rating, tripling the base reward points.

The global chat channel was abuzz, the messages scrolling so fast that even with his neural reaction speed bolstered by 18 agility points, Lu Yuan could barely keep up.

“Don’t these people have tasks to do? Do they just chat all day?”

Shaking his head, Lu Yuan opened the details for his next task—

[Task Level: S-]

[Task Objective: Defeat the Bear Man]

[Task Reward: 100,000 points (base)]

[Task Details—Bear Man: Level A+, Cyborg, specializes in…]

Lu Yuan quickly skimmed through the information, finding nothing particularly unusual.

He then turned off his wristwatch, maintaining a calm demeanor as he entered the building.

Inside, it resembled an abandoned, old chemical plant, with the air thick with the pungent smell of rust and chemical waste.

Lu Yuan navigated through the factory’s winding paths for about two minutes.

Finally, he stopped in front of a large, rusty iron door.

“Crack, crack—”

The heavy, rusted door creaked loudly as Lu Yuan pushed it open, the sound grating on the ears.

“Whoosh—”

A wave of acrid, putrid air rushed out, causing Lu Yuan to instinctively wrinkle his nose and step aside.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to step inside.

The floor outside the door was a rusty iron mesh, creating a dark and gloomy atmosphere reminiscent of old horror movies.

Inside, however, was completely different.

Blinding white light illuminated the entire space, making it glaringly bright.

Apart from a small section near the entrance which still had the iron mesh floor, the rest of the ground was covered with white stone bricks, neatly laid out.

These bricks were made of an unknown material, looking extremely fine and sturdy.

Moreover, they were unusually thick, standing seven to eight centimeters higher than the floor near the entrance, creating a step-like effect in front of Lu Yuan.

Every few meters between these white stone bricks, there was a hemispherical, ten-centimeter-diameter light, emitting a faint yellow glow.

As soon as Lu Yuan stepped into the room, he felt an inexplicable, intense sense of oppression.

It was as if the air pressure in the room was particularly low, making him feel slightly uncomfortable.

So, he didn’t rush further in, stopping just before the white stone step.

Of course, part of the reason was that his attention was quickly drawn to a scene about twenty meters ahead.

—

There stood a massive long table, entirely constructed of white bricks.

Sitting at the table was a person.

A bald man looked extremely lean and muscular.

He wasn’t particularly tall, but his muscles were solid and evenly distributed.

His skin was a light bronze, with distinct features and muscle contours.

The man looked as if he had been forged from raw iron, exuding an incredibly strong… solidity.

The bald man was shirtless, sitting at the table, eating slowly and methodically.

Above the table, there was a fist-sized hole from which a white, viscous substance continuously oozed out, landing in front of him.

Unbothered, the bald man kept shoveling this high-protein-looking substance into his mouth until the feeding port stopped dispensing it.

Only then did he wipe his mouth and nonchalantly stand up from the table.

With a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, he walked towards Lu Yuan, stopping about five meters away.

His steel-like body stretched, producing a series of audible cracks.

He slightly tilted his head and raised his back, as if trying to block the overhead incandescent light from shining directly on him.

A palpable aura of oppression began to radiate from the man.

“Welcome, assessor.”

The man looked down at Lu Yuan, smiling as he spoke slowly and deliberately, “Are you ready… to feel the taste of fear?”

“Uh…”

Lu Yuan was momentarily stunned.

He then looked at the bald man for a while before calmly stepping onto the white stone step in front of him, speaking softly.

“How dare you… steal my lines.”

“This guy… he’s really changed…”

In the spacious room, Song Cong frowned as he stared at the bald man on the screen. “I remember the last time I saw him, he was a few hundred kilograms of flesh.”

“Water Bear modification; the body adapts to the most suitable and perfect form for the environment.

Don’t you think he looks much better now than that lump of flesh?”

Su Zhaohui, holding a wine glass, remarked with a hint of sentiment:

“From the batch of test subjects who participated in the Water Bear No.1 biochemical modification program, he was the only one who survived.

If it weren’t for his significant character flaws, he might have been sitting here with us now…”

“This is not the time for reminiscing.”

Song Cong said coldly, “The Bear Man is far more dangerous than You Long. And this is his home turf. If anything happens to Lu Yuan… he’s not just any new blood!”